IDI’s The Seasons Connects Artistry with Audiences
Photos by Naomi Jiang
Ice Dance International’s (IDI) newest touring production, The Seasons, is inspired by the changing cycles of nature. The Seasons features a cast that includes 2022 Olympic champion Gabriella Papadakis, two-time U.S. champion Alissa Czisny and renowned choreographer Rohene Ward, bringing together diverse skating styles and creative voices. Each section of the performance reflects a different season, using choreography, music, and ensemble formations to evoke the energy of renewal, growth, transformation, and reflection.
Productions like The Seasons showcase the freedom to experiment with longer pieces, collaborative choreography, and theatrical storytelling. IDI offers audiences a rare opportunity to see performances in a format designed for artistry and connection with the audience.
I had the opportunity to chat with IDI co-founder Douglas Webster about the 2026 tour’s theme as well as some of the programs.
IDC: How has the tour been received so far?
D. Webster: We’re about two-thirds of the way through now, which is very exciting. The audience response has been incredibly enthusiastic.
We’ve been getting standing ovations everywhere we go. Our company manager Adrian mentioned that people leaving the theater were describing the show as “mesmerizing” and “transcendent.” Those are big words, but they reflect the beauty of the ensemble we have. The company is made up of extraordinary skaters who are working together incredibly well. What’s been most moving is how deeply audiences are reacting. People are experiencing joy, tears, and all the emotions. To be able to touch someone like that through an art form—that’s really the goal.
IDC: Looking at the program, some pieces are familiar, but there are also new ones this year. What do you think are some of the standout pieces in this year’s show?
D. Webster: Honestly, they’re all special because each piece serves a different purpose in moving the show along. It’s called the seasons and it represents spring, summer, fall and winter and how those resonate on an emotional level in the pieces and also in the way that the show is built as a journey.
One standout is Rohene Ward’s “Emotional Seasons”, which unfolds in two parts. It’s an incredible journey that I think of as the fall of Icarus followed by the Phoenix rising. It has a very emotional beginning and then the rising of hope and light and love that comes out of loss.
The opening section is athletic and fast and furious in its movement and also very heavy on showcasing athletic tricks, jumps and spins. is athletic fast and explosive, showcasing athletic tricks, jumps, and spins. Emmanuel Savary, Rohene, and Alissa Czisny are incredible spinners people are blown away by the speed and number of revolutions they can generate.
Then the second half of that piece showcases Gabriella Papadakis, Alissa and Kseniya Ponomaryova who come out one by one at the beginning. It’s ethereal in its energies, then Rohene elevates the spiritual energies of it as it moves into a feeling of transcendence. It always gets a big audience response.
“Swarm” by Garrett Smith, who’s a contemporary ballet choreographer, is also very unique because it’s a real piece that you might see in contemporary ballet. It’s shape driven with groupings of people in contemporary asymmetric and abstract shapes that are interesting to the eye of a regular skating viewer.
The movement flows beautifully and features duets for Alissa Czisny with Tim Koleto, as well as Alissa with Rohene and just the quality of movement is very special. It’s called Swarm and that really signifies a swarm of energy. Garrett loved the idea of the word swarm being something that was enveloping of movement and I think it does that in a very special way.
And then there’s Revival, which I choreographed. It’s not truly a premiere—it’s actually the third incarnation of a work I originally created with Ice Theatre of New York, then re-choreographed during COVID. The piece is about community and spirit, about people coming together to share stories again.
It’s very hopeful and rooted in theatrical storytelling, which is something that’s always been important to me. Rohene skates to “Hallelujah” within the piece, and it’s just very special to see his nuanced performance. Gabriella Papadakis is also featured in the piece. It’s one that really touches people and celebrates the power of community.
IDC: What does it mean for the company to have 2022 Olympic champion Gabriella Papadakis returning for the tour? What has it been like having competitive ice dancers like Oona and Gage Brown involved as well?
D. Webster: The goal of Ice Dance International has always been to create a platform for ice dancers at the highest level. Ice dancers bring a certain skating quality that I think is essential to performance skating—things like deep knee bend, extension, speed, power, and the nuance of movement.
Gabriella is a textbook skater of nuance, of how to move the body, the mind, and the focus of character and the dance in very special ways. She skates a solo in the show choreographed by Jeremy Abbott that really showcases that ability.
But beyond that, everything Gabriella brings to the performances—her focus, her character, her skating skills—elevates the entire company. And the entire cast brings incredible skating ability as well. Someone like Ksenia Ponomaryova, for example, may be less known to some fans, but she brings incredible depth and movement quality to the ensemble.
Oona and Gage are powerhouses in their athletic endeavors of lifting and spins. I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for them to grow in their performance energies as well as their nuanced quality of movement. They elevate their skating by having different opportunities outside of the competitive programs.
Long-term, my goal is to keep expanding the company with ice dancers of that level. Having skaters like Gabriella, Oona, and Gage involved really helps elevate that vision. Gabriella especially believes strongly in what Ice Dance International is doing. She’s doing so much on social media to promote our tour, our mission and our vision. One of our big goals is eventually taking the company abroad—to Europe—and I think that could happen soon. Gabriella has been very supportive of that idea as well.
Another goal of IDI keep growing to build on our production itself – lighting, video projection, the technical side of the company as well as the skating side so audiences can see dance on ice as a performing art.
The full tour cast: Gage Brown, Oona Brown, Tim Koleto, Jean-Simon Legare, Gabriella Papadakis, Kseniya Ponomaryova, Emmanuel Savary, Angela Wang and Rohene Ward. Collin Brubaker will perform in select cities.
There are still four opportunities to catch The Seasons before the end of the tour:
- March 18 – Rochester, MN
- March 19 – Milwaukee, WI
- March 20 – Chicago, IL
- March 21 – Detroit, MI
Tickets and additional information is available at icedanceinternational.org.